LIVERPOOL’S under-fire council leader came out fighting today saying he was confident he would keep his role.

Lib Dem Warren Bradley faces a two-pronged challenge from former education boss Cllr Paul Clein and Cllr Richard Kemp, the leader of the Lib Dem group at the Local Government Association.

It came as his party clung on to power thanks to a last-minute defection of Croxteth independent Nadia Stewart who joined the Lib Dems to secure them the one-seat majority they needed.

But Cllr Bradley today refused to be beaten and vowed to stay on as leader.

He told the ECHO: “I’m disappointed with some of the results but you have to put it into perspective. We have been in power for 10 years and all political parties can be affected when you are in power this long.

“Just look at the Labour government who would have been wiped out had it been a general election.

“But we are still in power and will continue with our vision. Liverpool has been through a period of challenges to ensure we are a 21st century city. Perhaps we need to take a step back and revisit issues that affect the vulnerable members of our community which is what we intend to do.”

He said bringing better traffic flow through the city was among issues at the top of his agenda.

On his leadership challenge, likely to be held a week on Monday, he said: “This is a healthy part of any democracy. I expected it and I look forward to the challenge.”

He added: “It’s up to the group to decide but I’m confident in my vision and proud of my record over the last two and half years. It has coincided with a big period of change and big projects which we have completed with flying colours, as we will with the Liverpool ONE scheme at the end of May.”

And he dismissed talk that Nadia Stewart’s defection was underhand or a sign of desperation, stressing: “This is politics and there has always been defections.”

He confirmed the party had been in discussions with her since she resigned the Labour whip last June after accusing the party hierarchy of bullying.

But he stressed: “On the night we had another chat and that’s when she made her mind up, she could see the Lib Dems’ vision and how we can bring stability to the city.”

Labour leader claims Lib Dems are at civil war

LABOUR leader Joe Anderson today said today the challenge to the Lib Dem leadership was a sign civil war had broken out within the group.

He said: “This proves they are disjointed, disunited and more interested in personality politics than this city.

“The Liberal Democrats are at civil war.”

And he attacked the last minute deal which saw the Lib Dems cling to power through the early hour defection of Croxteth independent Nadia Stewart join the Lib Dems to secure a precious one-seat majority for the party.

Cllr Anderson said: “They have won by default and this was a desperate move of a once flagship council for the Lib Dems which is now a sinking ship.”

He said that his party would continue to campaign on housing, the environment and “the youth crime and disorder on our streets”.

And he said he was proud of his party’s achievements - pointing to how Labour got 40% of the vote in the city and came within a whisker of taking control.

He added: “More people voted for us than anyone else.

“Overall it was a great night for us as Labour gained four seats, but it is tinged with sadness as we nearly gained control and it is the city which has lost out.”

Challengers reveal their vision

THE two challengers to the Lib Dem leadership today set out their vision for the future of the group.

Cllr Richard Kemp, the leader of the Lib Dem group at the Local Government Association has been a councillor for 27 years and represents Church ward, Mossley Hill.

Today he said: “I think there are two key areas of difficulty we need to face as a council. First of all his how all members of the council behave. The behaviour at council and select committee meetings is a disgrace.

“Arguments and squabbles are going on when we should be looking at the big picture, not just the Lib Dems but all of us.”

He added: “We should be clearly setting our stall out for the next 20 years – all parties need to set out a chart for the city, as we will not be able to look at the long term without it.

If I become leader the first thing I will do is get the leaders of all parties together on this so we can then have a proper debate and get on with the big issue politics together.

“I am talking about things like changes in the environment over the next 20 years, how IT will change and how we educate our citizens in making the most of these new opportunities and how to attract the right commerce and industry to the city. The people of Liverpool probably know what we’ve been working towards for 2008 but will not have a clue what any of the parties will be looking to do come January 1, 2009.”

Cllr Paul Clein has been a councillor for 16 years and his decision to stand comes just over a month since he quit his role as executive member for education. Then he said he was “fed up” of seeing Cllr Bradley and the council on the front pages for all the wrong reasons, such as the Mathew Street Festival debacle.

He said: “We’ve had a bad year, in fact we’ve had three bad elections in a row. But the message I was getting on the doorstep was that people did not have any major problems with the Lib Dem administration per se but time and time again they mention the leadership. They want a change of leader, whether that’s me, Richard or anybody else.

“We need to start doing things differently and returning to our principles which is ensuring that people have as much say in decision-making as possible.”

He said the council’s record in the last decade was to be proud of and said it was “not a coincidence” that the tenure has coincided with massive regeneration, improvements in education, social services and the city having “the lowest increases in council tax over the last 10 years”.

ELLESMERE Port and Neston council - along with five other boroughs and Cheshire County Council -will be replaced by two new authorities in 2009.

Although there was an election on May 1 candidates will be appointed to a shadow council until 2009.

The Cheshire West and Chester Shadow Council polls saw the Conservatives take 55 seats, Labour take 13 seats and the Lib Dems four seats.